Grand National Champion Named by U.S. Open Beer Competition
Nearly 4,000 beers from around the world entered

Oxford, OH (July, 2015) -
Breweries from China to the Czech Republic sent in almost 4,000
beers and ciders representing 90 different styles for the
2015 U.S. Open Beer Championship. This competition includes professional breweries and award-winning
home-brewers. Today, judges from England, Canada and
the U.S. announced the winners.

Ballast Point Brewing in San Diego, California was named Grand National
Champion by winning three gold medals and one silver medal.
Their three beers that were awarded gold medals were Ballast
Point Pale Ale, Calico Amber Ale and Sculpin IPA.

Lakewood Brewing from Garland, Texas place second while
Revelry Brewing of Charleston, South Carolina took home third.

Judging in the U.S. Open Beer Championships is blind; the judges do
not know what beers they are tasting.

Gold medal winners from last year's American Homebrewers Associations National Homebrew Competition also
competed. Homebrewer Scott Hixson took home a silver medal for his YYY's Man Says in the German Wheat Category while Jeff Carlson
grabbed the bronze medal for his Westside Sweet Heat spiced cider.
In the Marzen/Oktoberfest Style,
Nick Rodammer also won a bronze.

"It's amazing what brewers will do to enter the U.S. Open. In the
past, brewers have personally delivered their craft beers from
Columbia and Brazil. This year, Joshua Deitner from Shanghai Brewery
in China traveled 7,263 miles to deliver his beers personally," said
Dow Scoggins, Director of the U.S. Open. He added that the effort
paid off: Shanghai Brewery's Imperial American Brown Ale was awarded
a silver medal.

In addition to craft beer, hundreds of ciders were sent to the U.S.
Open. This was the second year that the U.S. Open has judged ciders.
2 Towns Ciderhouse from Corvallis, Oregon was name Cidery of the
Year. The cider judges wanted to commend Appalachian Brewery and
Cidery for their creativity and imagination. Unfortunately, most of
their ciders were entered in the same category and only took home 1
medal.

Other "winners" from The U.S. Open Beer Championship are
the Oxford
and Cincinnati Soccer Clubs and YMCA Camp - Campell Gard, which benefited through the donation of
hundreds of ice packs used to pack and deliver U.S. Open Beer
entries.

The U.S. Open also puts on the "Beer Academy" in Oxford, Ohio. All
proceeds go the the Oxford Community Art Center.

Top 10 Breweries 2015

The top 10 breweries based on the number of beers placing first (10
points), second (5 points), third (3 points), fourth(2 points), and
fifth(1 point) are:

(*) The Carolina BrewMasters hold an annual homebrew competition called the US Open. This homebrew competition is open to all North American homebrewers and is a fully sanctioned BJCP event. This competition was started in 1991.